Despite browser traffic continuing to move towards smartphones, consumers from Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) significantly prefer making purchases via desktop, new research from Adobe has found.

The Adobe Digital Insights Asia-Pacific Best of the Best Report, which aggregated anonymous data from approximately 100 billion visits to 3,000+ websites across the region during the 2016 calendar year, has found that while ANZ consumers are among those leading the shift from desktops (52.5% share of browser traffic) to smartphones (37.7% share of browser traffic), desktop conversion rates (2.9%) were three times that of smartphones (0.8%).

Comparing data from Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the United States, the report found that the ‘Best of the Best’ or top 20% of websites in ANZ are widening the gap with average websites, seeing a 5.8% desktop conversion rate, compared with the average of 2.9%.

Along with Japan (5.8%), ANZ’s ‘Best of the Best’ are achieving higher desktop rates than the United States (5.4%).

“We are seeing that while browsing activity is shifting towards smartphones, consumers in Australia and New Zealand still prefer to make their final purchase via desktop,” says Becky Tasker, Adobe Digital Insights senior manager.

“Smartphone traffic and conversion rates are rising, but ANZ’s best marketers recognise that the desktop is still likely to be the final destination, even in a cohesive multi-device experience.”

Adobe’s research also highlights an evolution in the way consumers are engaging with the technology sector.

While tech websites maintain one of the highest visit rates, the sector has also seen the time consumers spend during these visits decreasing – the customer journey now consists of interactions that are more numerous, but shorter.

“With the customer journey now involving an increasing number of interactions across a range of devices, we need to keep pace with changing customer expectations,” says Danielle Uskovic, Lenovo Asia Pacific digital and social head.

“Using Adobe Analytics Cloud, we are able to ensure we deliver a superior experience for our customers, no matter how they choose to engage with us.”

Other key findings in the Best of the Best Report include:

ANZ sees the highest visit rates for the region across both desktops (1.77 visits per month) and smartphones (1.61 visits per month)

ANZ is the only region to see an increase in time spent across average and ‘Best of the Best’ websites (6.28 and 9.01 minutes respectively), with tech and retail the only two ANZ industries to show a decrease

ANZ and India were the only countries to see visit rates increase across both smartphone and desktop

ANZ’s ‘Best of the Best’ websites lead the region in website stickiness (percentage of visits that last for more than one page)